Have you noticed how our "what's happening now" del.icio.us feed has gone nuts lately? Well, one link that warrants additional explanation—and which i want to be sure doesn't get buried—is Amazon.com's announcement of an "artificial, artificial intelligence" program called Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Basically, it's a system that connects regular web users (and computers) to a large decentralized network of humans who get paid to complete "Human Intelligence Tasks," or respond to info requests -- tasks for which humans are better equipped than computers. This investment is a Big Deal because it speaks volumes about the company's appreciation for (a) the online multiplier effect, where many small, individual actions add up to a larger whole, and (b) the proven nature of distributed and decentralized processing via the 'net.
Thanks to Marty for the tip-off on this one. He was pretty taken by it when we first connected about this, and hiss energy is appropriately contagious—especially when you consider the endless possibilities here for the political and non-profit worlds, as Marty points out: "This is unbelievable! Amazon just launched a network-centric work service! The last several years we have been pitching the ideas and concepts behind "packetizing" work of campaigns and advocacy..."
And Windmill thinks thinks this is the beginning of "a global network of intelligence where machines and humans are completely intertwined!"
We should keep our eyes on how the Amazon system tracks the success rates and reputations of different human workers (do you earn more if your work is rated to be of higher quality, or if you produce results that provide greater satisfaction to the person or computer requesting work?). And from a sociological perspective, what sort of people are most willing to do the work -- the unemployed, the bored, or the generous?
Here's the most succinct summary from Amazon's announcement page (emphasis mine):
Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate Artificial Artificial Intelligence directly into their processing by making requests of humans. Developers use the Amazon Mechanical Turk web services API to submit tasks to the Amazon Mechanical Turk web site, approve completed tasks, and incorporate the answers into their software applications. To the application, the transaction looks very much like any remote procedure call - the application sends the request, and the service returns the results. In reality, a network of humans fuels this Artificial Artificial Intelligence by coming to the web site, searching for and completing tasks, and receiving payment for their work.
